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Corona Renderer for Cinema 4D moves into free beta

Render Legion’s latest training video for Corona Renderer for Cinema 4D. The demo shows the Interactive Renderer and material layering, both now supported in this week’s Beta 1 release of the software.

Render Legion has released Corona Renderer for Cinema 4D, the upcoming edition of the renderer for Maxon’s 3D modelling, animation and motion graphics software, as a free beta.

New features in the Beta 1 release include interactive rendering via the Corona VFB, support for the Corona Image Editor, native material layering, and a new Shadow Catcher material.

Interactive rendering via the VFB, plus support for the Corona Image Editor
Although Corona Renderer for Cinema 4D has been available in alpha for over three years, the new build is the biggest update for some time, and officially moves the software into beta.

New features include support for interactive rendering via the Corona VFB, enabling users to see the result of changes to geometry, materials, cameras, lighting and Xpresso neworks in real time.

The update also makes the standalone Corona Image Editor (CIE) compatible with the Cinema 4D edition, enabling users to apply post effects to renders generated in the VFB, including denoising and tonemapping.

New materials features
Other changes include a new Shadow Catcher material, intended to help integrate rendered CG objects with photorealistic backplates, and support for dispersion and SSS in the standard Corona material.

The update also introduces support for material layering, as shown in the video above.

Improvements to final rendering
Over in final rendering, new features include the option to render only the object selected in the viewport, or to create a more detailed include and exclude list.

As with last year’s Corona Renderer 1.7 for 3ds Max, the update also ports over V-Ray’s DMC sampler. Render Legion says it is capable of speeding up renders “up to two times” for the same amount of noise.

Support for Cinema 4D’s Team Render network rendering system is also now “close to fully functional”, although there are still limitations, including lack of support for adaptivity and denoising.

Render Legion has also updated its online roadmap for the software, with the node-based material editor, hair and skin shaders, and support for Corona Proxy all due in Beta 2 of the Cinema 4D edition.

Pricing and availability
Corona Renderer for Cinema 4D Beta 1 is available for Cinema 4D R14+ on Windows 7+ and Mac OS X 10.7+. The beta is free and can be used on commercial projects, but will expire with the commercial release.